Ice Skates and Late Dates
by Fallen Ark Angel
Summary: Laxus spends the day with everyone other than Mirajane. He hopes the evening will be different though. - One-shot, Set in the Last Month universe.


There were a lot of things that Laxus didn't like about winter.

It was cold. Too cold. It snowed. Too much snow. Which was wet. And got everywhere. And it meant that he had to buy firewood, for the fireplace, and make sure that the front walk was shoveled and forbid it iced.

He hated when it iced.

Then there was the fact that everyone got a bit of cabin fever, when it snowed so much people were trapped inside too often and why was it, huh, that his wife's dorky siblings and his only friends all seemed to think that his house was the place to escape the frigid night air?

And don't forget the snowmen.

Those wretched, hell-bound beasts.

He thought he hated snowmen most of all.

Still, it seemed to be Lana, his little baby demon dragon, favorite time of the year, so he had to grin and bear it. She liked it even more as she aged out of just playing in the front yard or looking up in wonder at the lights hung from neighborhood houses. No. She was now old enough to be the like the big kids, she insisted to her father one day when she spied them at the park, over on the frozen pond, and wanted to ice skate too.

"Ice skatin', huh?" Bickslow hummed when Laxus approached him with this the next day.

Lana was spending the day with her Uncle Elf, but most the rest of their family was up at the hall. Laxus' wife, Mirajane, was very busy with her Master duties and her aunt Lisanna was filling in at the bar, hoping to pick up some easy, extra jewels for the upcoming Winter Festival. The others in their little group, the Thunder Legion, were sitting around their table, Freed commenting on a job before, but stopping when Laxus made Lana's new desires clear.

She was the only baby any of them had. Given the fact Ever and Elfman were frequently on the outs, Freed had little desire for small children, and Bickslow and Lisanna really shouldn't be allowed near any, ever, unsupervised, this made sense. And given that Mirajane and Laxus seemed content for the time being in her being their only child, this didn't seem as if it would be changing any time soon.

This meant, however, that she was, well, more than a bit spoiled. Not just because her father seemed to bow to each and every single one of her demands (which, yeah, this was a massive problem), but also because the others had very little experience to draw from, when dealing with children, and seemed to mostly wish to keep her appeased.

Or else.

And Laxus was the or else.

So if his hatchling wanted to go ice skating, damn it, they were going ice skating.

"I can't," Evergreen told him. When this got a dark look from the slayer though, she glanced up from filing her nails to insist, "Seriously, I can't. I never learned."

"I must confess," Freed added, "that it is a skill I am lacking as well."

"What's with you guys?" the slayer complained. "How do you not know?"

"We were a bit busy in our formative years," Freed offered simply. "Surviving."

As the slayer looked off them, perhaps feeling a bit of remorse for his harsh tone, Bickslow only took to snickering. His little wooden babies began to do much the same.

"Ah, boss!" He patted at his chest then, the seith did, as his tongue tumbled from his mouth and they all got a good look at his guild marking. "I would be happy to teach the baby boss how to ice skate."

"You weren't," the slayer went right back to griping, "asked."

"You don't know how to either though, huh?" the seith asked. "Else you wouldn't have come to us, yeah? So it sounds like you need me."

"I don't need anyone."

Other than his little tiny baby demon dragon hatchling.

And yeah, the actual demon too.

"Perhaps," Freed suggested then, glancing around the table at the others, "we can make it a family affair."

"Don't have affairs with your family, dude." Bickslow's tongue slurped right back up in his mouth. "Freak."

"Wha- That is not what I meant!"

"Keep it in your pants."

"Bickslow-"

"What do you actually mean, Freed?" Ever asked with a roll of her eyes, really just wanting this conversation to die already.

After sending his friend the darkest of glares, he looked to Laxus once more before explaining, "We all lack in this category and, well, I am certain Lana will hardly be an expert on her first venture. Certainly it will make her feel better, should we all learn along side her. Right?"

"I," Ever began after the others thought on it, "can't."

But she could.

And she would.

They all would. Laxus rose then, to go see the Master and inform her of this while Lisanna, seeing him dip into the back, used this to her advantage and came over to goof off with the others rather than work. Easy jewels could be so straining sometimes.

"It's me," Laxus called out after knocking his knuckles against the heavy door of his wife's office. "Demon."

"Oh, dragon, come in, but don't let anyone else in, alright? I'm really swamped."

"Just me," he assured the woman as, upon entering, he found her desk swarmed with papers and the woman with a pair of glasses on, looking over something rather official, it seemed. At his entrance though, she only pushed them up as she looked to her husband.

"What's up?"

He came over first to give her a kiss before falling into the chair on the other side of the desk.

"Can't come check on my woman?" he questioned, but she only continued to stare at him, waiting for a true explanation. Sighing some, he added, "Lana wants to go ice skating."

"Okay," she said slowly as she blinked. "Is that…. You're not going to be weird over something like this, are you?"

"What do you mean?"

"Dragon, you get weird over every new thing she does."

"Do not."

"Laxus, I'm really busy-"

"She's my only daughter," he griped. "Should I not think that each and every milestone is important and noteworthy?"

Mira only sighed at him though and, after sulking for a moment, he knew he had to continue.

"Well, I don't know to do it," he admitted to his wife then. "Ice skate. And neither does the Thunder Legion. Well, stupid Bickslow does, but who the fuck trusts him with anything?"

"Uh, I trust him with my sister."

"That's your bad judgment."

"You're talking to your master, you know."

Oh, he knew.

It had been more than a point of contention, when Mirajane captured his once attainable dream, becoming the guild master in Makarov's death, but time healed most things. That was so far behind them then. And, after seeing all the work that his fie put in, day in and out, for the guild to run smoothly, he figured he didn't even want the job.

It would eat too greatly into his dragon-hatchling time.

Plus…

He wanted Lana to see it. Her mother in that way. Not just as a barmaid, which was fine, yeah, but… Mirajane was one of the few female guild masters around, and of the top guild in all the land. He liked that. Even if he didn't always.

"Freed thinks we should all go out, together, and learn how to ice skate," he told the woman then. "With Lana. So she doesn't feel so bad, about not being great at it."

'That sounds nice."

"Yeah, I thought-"

"But I know how," his wife told him with a slight grin. "And so do Elf and Lisanna."

"Of course."

"I'm sorry. Does that ruin things for you?"

But he only shrugged a bit, Laxus did, as he said, "Better than only Bickslow. Besides, Lana will probably listen to you better."

But Mira gave him a sad look again as she said, "I'm serious about being swamped, Lax."

"It doesn't have to be today. Tomorrow-"

"I'm behind already, because people keep destroying every town they visit and I'm completely confused on how to handle what Natsu did in-"

"It's fine. Mira." He rose from his chair once more, leaning over the desk to give her one last kiss. "We'll do it without you."

"I'm sure Lana won't miss me much," she insisted to her husband and maybe not.

While the girl loved her mother, she seemed to find annoyance with her far more often than any other adult in her life. Mirajane seemed to be the disciplinarian and, while Lana respected her mother, she could find this a very annoying quality.

But Laxus had kinda wanted his wife to go. With them. Even before all the others were going to go. Especially now that they were. She'd been busy with the hall so much recently and he'd only just returned from an S-Class job and he just…

"See you at home," he offered over his shoulder, but she was already busy with her work once more.

Since the demon was out, he only had Lisanna find someone to cover for her and then they all set off, to locate Lana and Elfman. They were very busy in the park already, where Elfman was being directed by his niece (and some other random children she seemed to have made friends with) to roll them the biggest of bases for a prospective snowman. Laxus tried not to let the vain in his forehead pop right out.

It did throb though as he patted his daughter on her soft, white locks.

"C'mon," he said as the other kids seemed sad to see her (or at least her big, burly uncle who was at their whim). "We gotta go get you some ice skates, huh?"

Oh, yes. They did.

And the others as well.

It was the best trip to the market ever, Lana felt. Daddy bought her some new mittens too, as Uncle Bickslow explained she should never leave her fingers down on the pond for long, should she fall.

"Else someone might skate right over then," the acrobat warned. "And then..."

He just shook his head as he closed his hand tight, miming some severed fingers, maybe. As Lana recoiled in horror and Lisanna griped at her boyfriend, Freed only assured her that they would not allow this to happen.

"Are you gonna skate too, Daddy?" Lana asked as she held hands with him, on their walk back to the pond. "Is that how come you got skates?"

"Yep," he agreed as, the closer they got to the pond, the bigger the knot in his chest began to grow. It wasn't so much that Laxus didn't wanna skate with his daughter, but rather, it was that he'd never done it before and therefore didn't know if he'd be good at it or not.

And while he hated failure, he hated it much more when it occurred before the eyes of Lana.

As they all sat in the snow, ditching their boots for their new skates, Lisanna was quick to race Bickslow onto the ice, both finding ease in this. Lana was whining to Freed, who was lacing up her skates, to hurry because she wanted to get out there too!

"Speak," Ever sighed as she seemed rather lackluster in her effort, "for yourself."

Oh, she was.

"Here, Lana!" Bickslow, who'd been happily skating circle around those kids, those cats, out there on the big frozen pond, came rushing back over to the edge of it as he held out both hands, waiting for them to be filled with the little girl's. "I'll help ya, huh?"

Laxus very much so wanted to be the one to lead his daughter out onto the ice and help her out, but he found it to be a good thing, probably, that he wasn't as the first thing he did out on the ice was tumble back on his butt with a hard thump.

"Careful, Laxus," Elfman snickered as he skated by with the wobbly Evergreen holding tight, for once, to one of his hands. "You'll crack the ice!"

He thought he was so fucking funny. Idiot. Fucking idiot. As Laxus growled and shoved up, he looked for Freed, hoping, honestly, the other guy was having as hard a time as him. Then they could commiserate together. But somehow, even though he claimed to have never touched an ice skate in his entire life, the man was busy doing figure eights across the pond.

"It's amazing, Laxus," he called to the man as he came whizzing passed. "I must have repressed it, but yes, I recall now, my father and I, skating every winter, before I left home."

Oh, fucking great.

Laxus fell again and that was it, he was done, fuck this shit, but just as he was about to sulk away, Lisanna came skating up to him with a giggle and outstretched hands.

"Come on, big brother Laxus," she offered with a tilt of her head. "I'll help you."

"Don't need help," he grumbled, but her grin faltered then as she actually leaned down to take his hands in her own.

"Do it for Lana," she insisted as he got to his shaky feet once more. "If she ends up liking this, you'll have to do it all winter."

What horror.

And it would be fine, because Mirajane could join them, later, if he just learned (or at least became a bit more stable) now, but…

He'd just wanted the demon there.

That was all.

And it wasn't enough, her little sister being around. Her doofus brother. Their daughter, Lana. Each had a bit of the woman in them, but it just wasn't enough.

It was complicated. All of it. But he and the demon's relationship especially. Things had been a bit tense, recently, and he just kind of wanted them to do this. Together.

That was all.

But Lana only fell twice, when she tried letting go of Bickslow's hands and, as the sunset, she only let Uncle Elf carry her home, exhausted from her busy day. They were all probably going to go their separate ways, with Elfman shrugging Lana off on her father so he and Ever could go argue over where to get dinner while Bickslow and Lisanna just trailed behind the pair, hoping if they picked the right victor in the match (it was almost always the Lady of Stone), they could trick their way into a free meal. Freed was energized, however, by his discovery and was most keen to figure out what other repressed memories were lurking about.

Laxus felt like this was a bad idea (and questioned how he'd even go about that), but was too down to deal with it in that moment.

It was as they were leaving the park, however, that they ran into her. Mirajane. She seemed in a hurry too, but spotted them rather easily (they were sort of an unmistakable group) and rushed to their sides.

"Are you leaving already?" she asked with a bit of a frown.

"And never," Evergreen griped, who'd been fallen on, by Elfman, crushed, honestly, and they would be arguing over this one for weeks, "coming back!"

"It was," Elfman yelled, "an accident!"

"Men don't make accidents, I thought?" Lisanna mused. "Everything is on purpose."

"Your boyfriend fell on you on purpose, Ever," Bickslow whistled lowly. "And not even the good kind?"

Freed was not riding too high to miss that and found himself asking, and regretting while doing so, "What is the good kind?"

But as the seith opened his mouth to explain, Mirajane only shook her head.

"I rushed all the way here," she complained, just a bit, looking at her husband. "Through my paperwork. I tried really hard to… I just can't believe you guys are already-"

"Sun's going down," Bickslow said. "I can only hang around the kid during daylight."

"Why? What are you?" Freed asked, again, regretfully. "A vampire?"

"A man with a social life," the seith bristled. "Unlike some of us."

But Lisanna only hummed. "Here's an idea."

And she reached over to take Lana from Laxus then. The girl was too old to be carried, honestly, however, and was too heavy for the woman, but Lisanna just quickly pawned her right back off on Elfman.

"You and Laxus go skate. Together." Lisanna beamed at her older sister. "It's a really nice night out."

No.

No.

Laxus mood had run foul now, after falling and hurting himself, honestly, and the moment was ruined and...and…

"Someone," he muttered, "has to check on the dogs. No one's been home for hours and-"

"I'll do it," Freed offered up easily enough. "Perhaps caring for them will trigger even more memories."

And Mira had questions (a lot, actually), but Lisanna was only shooing the others along and she'd mostly wanted to skate with her daughter, honestly, but…

"It has been a long time," Mira remarked when she and the slayer found themselves alone. "Since we had a date. Lax."

She was smiling up at in, in a way she usually didn't anymore, and he could tell she was tired, he knew he was tired, but…

Well…

"Has it?" At her nod, he only let out a long sigh before saying, "Let's just walk, huh? Around the park? And maybe get something to eat after? I really don't wanna fall again. I think I bruised my-"

"The Thunder God is afraid of a little bruise?"

"It fucking hurts, Mira. And it's not like in a battle. You have no adrenaline or-"

"Then I'll just have to hold your hand." And she moved to do so then, gripping it tightly in her own. "And we'll go real slow. So you don't fall. Okay?"

"Demon-"

"Don't you trust me? Dragon?"

With his life.

Which is why he fell back into the snow, to put on his skates once more, while Mirajane only transformed into some and, when he took her hands, it felt so much warmer than with Lisanna.

So very much.


End file.
